Statement of the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Support of HB 2037 The Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (VASWCD) is a private nonprofit association of 47 soil and water conservation districts in Virginia. The Association provides and promotes leadership in the conservation of natural resources through stewardship and education programs. It coordinates conservation efforts statewide to focus effectively on issues identified by local member districts. Our mission is to serve and strengthen soil and water conservation districts in the stewardship of natural resources. We are very concerned with the loss of prime farmland and forest to utility scale solar developments in Virginia. Utility scale solar development has significant land use implications. According to a just released study by Virginia Commonwealth University, commissioned by the Virginia Department of Energy, over the last four years Virginia has lost 15,000 acres of forest to utility scale solar projects, and 12,000 acres of farmland. The loss of trees is particularly concerning given the Commonwealth’s obligations under the Chesapeake Bay agreement to plant 48,000 acres of new trees. This puts Virginia significantly in the red when it comes to complying with the Chesapeake Bay agreement forestry component. We think it is far preferable to install solar energy facilities on rooftops, parking lots, and land that has already been disturbed. At the December 2024 annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Association unanimously expressed opposition to any legislation that would restrict a County government’s current authority to make land use decisions with respect to rejecting or approving industrial utility scale solar projects within the County. Instead, we believe it is much better policy to give County government more authority to promote solar development on parking lots, such as would be accomplished by Delegate Bulova’s HB 2037. We support HB 2037, patroned by Delegate Bulova. The bill would allow local governments more leverage in dealing with developers to secure commitments from those developers to install photovoltaic panels on parking lots associated with the developments. We feel it is appropriate to empower local governments to take actions to improve the environmental quality of their communities. We urge the Committee to promptly take positive action on HB 2037.

Statement of the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Support of HB 2037 The Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (VASWCD) is a private nonprofit association of 47 soil and water conservation districts in Virginia. The Association provides and promotes leadership in the conservation of natural resources through stewardship and education programs. It coordinates conservation efforts statewide to focus effectively on issues identified by local member districts. Our mission is to serve and strengthen soil and water conservation districts in the stewardship of natural resources. We are very concerned with the loss of prime farmland and forest to utility scale solar developments in Virginia. Utility scale solar development has significant land use implications. According to a just released study by Virginia Commonwealth University, commissioned by the Virginia Department of Energy, over the last four years Virginia has lost 15,000 acres of forest to utility scale solar projects, and 12,000 acres of farmland. The loss of trees is particularly concerning given the Commonwealth’s obligations under the Chesapeake Bay agreement to plant 48,000 acres of new trees. This puts Virginia significantly in the red when it comes to complying with the Chesapeake Bay agreement forestry component. We think it is far preferable to install solar energy facilities on rooftops, parking lots, and land that has already been disturbed. At the December 2024 annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Association unanimously expressed opposition to any legislation that would restrict a County government’s current authority to make land use decisions with respect to rejecting or approving industrial utility scale solar projects within the County. Instead, we believe it is much better policy to give County government more authority to promote solar development on parking lots, such as would be accomplished by Delegate Bulova’s HB 2037. We support HB 2037, patroned by Delegate Bulova. The bill would allow local governments more leverage in dealing with developers to secure commitments from those developers to install photovoltaic panels on parking lots associated with the developments. We feel it is appropriate to empower local governments to take actions to improve the environmental quality of their communities. We urge the Committee to promptly take positive action on HB 2037.

I highly support this bill and thank the Delegate for sponsoring it. Solar canopies on parking lots are a win-win proposition and have shown success in other states. Solar on parking lots is a great dual use for spaces that are already paved, reducing demand on other lands. This bill allows individual localities to decide whether or not to require solar canopies and whether or not to provide bonuses. The localities most likely to require such canopies are in the urban areas driving most of the increases in energy need; therefore this bill helps those areas to share in mitigating this increase.